


If I Lay Here, Would You Lie with Me?

by VolleyCat



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: A-Support (Fire Emblem), AU Where No War Happens, Ferdinand and Caspar are basically himbos, Ferdinand is a Falcon Knight, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Gender locked classes don't exist, Linhardt is a Gremory, Linhardt just wants to fucking sleep, M/M, Minor Caspar von Bergliez appearance, Philosophical ramblings, Post-Time Skip, no beta reading we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26557318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolleyCat/pseuds/VolleyCat
Summary: Linhardt von Hevring is an enigma to Ferdinand von Aegir. Despite having been in the same house for over five years in preparation for their eventual duties to the empire, there are still many things he doesn't understand. How can Linhardt just shirk his duties just to nap? It seems completely and utterly irresponsible and he simply must do something about it!Unbeknownst to Ferdinand, after his many failed attempts to get Linhardt to train with him, Linhardt actually approaches him and offers to train on his own terms. Not being one to back down on such an incredible opportunity, Ferdinand accepts. And with that, the two who were never really able to see eye-to-eye realize there is more to the other than what was initially on the surface.
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir & Linhardt von Hevring, Ferdinand von Aegir/Linhardt von Hevring
Kudos: 6





	If I Lay Here, Would You Lie with Me?

**Author's Note:**

> [ This is based off of an rp I had with my friend @MYTHOLOZY (on Twitter) that we like to call "the A-Support Ferdinand and Linhardt should have gotten" ]

By all standards, one wouldn’t consider Linhardt to be a hard worker by any means. Usually when someone would spy him, he would be asleep in some of the most odd places around Garreg Mach Monastery. Not to mention, his focus was much to be desired as he would often have spur-of-the-moment interests that would be seen as incredibly beneficial for himself and for the Black Eagles as a whole, only for his interest to sharply drop and abandon such flights of fancy. Yes, for Linhardt, he was the type to meander his way through life and be at the whims of others who persisted hard enough.

Ferdinand didn’t understand him at all.

As the sole healer in their house, not to mention sole heir to House Hevring, one would think that Linhardt would take his position with much more seriousness than he did. Ferdinand himself made numerous  _ helpful _ attempts at persuading the man to forego his current way of training, which to Ferdinand himself appeared to be very little. The lackadaisical Linhardt who thought nothing more than sleeping and lingering around in the library needed to do something more  _ useful _ with his time such as… Ferdinand’s own forte, horseback riding of course!

… Unfortunately, that was easier said in his own mind than done. Every time he was to approach Linhardt and remotely suggest something along the lines of training, Linhardt always seemed to have an escape route planned for such circumstances.

Ferdinand spied him from across the way underneath a tree, laid out as though he were a body being prepared for a funeral aside from the book laying on his face clearly as means to block the sun. To the untrained eye, others would look at the man and see such a sleeping position as uncomfortable, but anyone in the Black Eagles was more than aware this was just how Linhardt often slept in such a circumstance.

“Linhardt, my friend! I see you are once again sleeping in the courtyard!” Ferdinand boldly proclaimed in a purposeful attempt to force the healer awake, “Hopefully this means you have completed today’s training with impressive results?”

Who was he kidding? This was Linhardt we were talking about. To think such a thing would be complete and utter madness.

**Linhardt’s Training Escape Route Plan A: After being spotted by someone, continue to act as though you are asleep. Eventually, said person will get the idea and go away.**

Linhardt refused to budge or even remotely reply to Ferdinand. Unfortunately for Linhardt, Ferdinand was too used to his habits and thus knew Linhardt was attempting to avoid the incoming training that was meant to be forced upon him. In retaliation, Ferdinand merely stood in place, silent for the next few minutes until Linhardt finally decided to reply to him.

Thankfully for Ferdinand, the waiting paid off as he saw the man slowly move the book from his face, just to check if the noble had left. Linhardt moved the book enough to glance over and immediately be greeted by Ferdinand’s iron boots. A grimace crossed his face as he silently cursed himself for not waiting longer or at the very least went back to sleeping like he truly wanted.

Linhardt let out a sigh, took the book fully off his face, and clutched it under his arm as he finally paid his housemate mind. “Ferdinand. I didn’t expect to see you in the courtyard. I figured you would be off at the training grounds right now lecturing others on their posture when it came to wielding a lance,” he replied back in a monotone, but slightly snarky manner.

Ferdinand proudly bumped his chest with a closed fist and happily replied back, not taking the hint that Linhardt was making a bit of a joke at his expense, “Well up until this point, I was up in the training grounds, but Edelgard called upon me earlier for a discussion. One that happens to revolve around you in particular, Linhardt.”

Linhardt raised an eyebrow, “... What about me?”

Now Ferdinand had Linhardt’s attention. Time to word his training suggestion in a way that this lazy noble couldn’t possibly refuse! “Edelgard… Hubert,” there was a begrudging pause on ‘Hubert’, “and I all discussed preparations on if we all were prepared training-wise if a war were to break out tomorrow.”

Ferdinand stopped speaking as if trying to suggest to Linhardt to piece together what this implied for him. Linhardt on the other hand knew very well what the redhead was getting at, but clearly wanted nothing to do with this situation. “And your conclusion?”

Placing a hand on his hip and waving around a finger, Ferdinand declared with a mood that only fit for pomp and circumstance, “We all discussed that your training is less-than desirable at our current stages and have come to an agreement that as of now, I am to bring you onto the path of being a Holy Knight!”

Linhardt’s mouth twitched slightly. Ferdinand paid this no mind however as he continued on his spiel, “Now, we both know that I am a Falcon Knight, but I can assure you that they are just as good at cantering as any regular horse would be, thus I would be more than ideal for showing you the ropes when it comes to such a wonderful opportunity. What do you say?”

“Not interested,” Linhardt replied immediately, not even taking the offer into consideration.

Ferdinand was left mouth agape at what he had just heard. “Impossible. My own ears would never deceive me, but there would be no possible way that anyone would reject such a splendid offer from the Ferdinand von Aegir!”

While Linhardt wished so badly to be snarky and reply back along the lines of ‘well I just did, leave me alone,’ he knew that such an endeavor would be pointless considering Ferdinand ‘noblest of nobles’ to Linhardt was more like ‘stubbornest of stubborn’. He knew that he now had to retreat into his next idea for even a slight chance that this man would stop clinging so badly onto his back.

**If Plan A Fails, Fall Back to Plan B: If that person refuses to leave, be sure to distract them with their weak point.**

In Ferdinand’s case, Linhardt always defaulted to flattery and self-degradation, as that seemed to be the most effective way to send Ferdinand off on a tangent without fail every time. This was usually Linhardt’s default plan for dealing with Ferdinand specifically as the man was not only  _ very _ persistent, but he was always annoyingly stubborn. The noble was more than eager to have any kind of attention on him, especially compliments regarding how he was “the noblest of nobles” and the like.

The redhead looked on at Linhardt in a very perplexed manner as he hadn’t replied back in a while. Ferdinand soon turned thoughtful however, as if he had a type of eureka moment, “Ah, I see! Perhaps it was that you did not hear me properly as you have just woken up from a nap. Thankfully for you, Ferdinand von Aegir is more than happy to provide you with the most wonderful news!”

Linhardt shook his head, immediately placing a hand out, “No, no, no. Trust me. I heard you loud and clear.”   
  
He took a moment to bring himself off the ground, as staring up at Ferdinand was making his neck sore at this point. As Linhardt stood up at the proper height and went to secure the book he was holding to the back holster on his hip, Ferdinand wasted no time in shifting into a rant that could only be reserved for the healer.

“You heard me loud and clear, but you are refusing my training offer? Linhardt! This isn’t something you can just put off and refuse! While you are extremely talented in your field of healing experience, the very best in all of the Black Eagles, you could do so much more if you push past the limits placed on yourself! You have much more magical abilities than I do by a long shot, but you lack the ability to wield a lance properly or even ride on the back of a horse! You are to be the heir of the Hevrings, a seat of high honor and prominence within the empire, but you cannot succeed if you were to perish at such an earlier age. And this is not something I wish for you or any of my friends, which is why I wish to go out of my way in order to strengthen your defences. Think about it, learning from the Ferdinand von Aegir is an incredible honor that he doesn’t bestow on just anyone!”

Linhardt could practically fall asleep to the rant he heard just now. Noble this, noble that. He cared not for any of these things and felt his friend was making a mountain out of a molehill. Not everyone is built for fighting or taking lives. Wasn’t it good enough for him that Linhardt was a powerful Gremory who could learn magic and healing? He certainly more than made his contribution known to his house despite it being a time of peace. What was Ferdinand being so haughty towards him about? But he digressed. To disagree with someone so bullheaded was not the right course of action. He needed to pull out his secret weapon.

His face softened as he put on a fake, light smile. “Oh Ferdinand, you misunderstand me,” Linhardt needed to lay this act on thick if he wanted a chance of this working, “It’s not out of sheer distaste for you or your wonderful training methods, but I am simply not worthy to have such techniques from a more than qualified master such as yourself. Why, I’m nothing more than a fledgling that can barely fly in terms of such techniques you wish to teach me. To have you bother with such a person as myself is merely wasting your own time and how could I in good conscience dare impede the Ferdinand von Aegir, the noblest and strongest of nobles.”

Linhardt let his words sink in as he analyzed Ferdinand’s face. The poor man was eating up the words and looked absolutely elated for Linhardt to be complimenting him. Linhardt! Complimenting! Him!

Thankfully, this is the outcome Linhardt wanted, as Ferdinand was too busy thinking about the words. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, Ferdinand. I’m sure you have more important noble duties to complete. I need to continue with my own studies. I will of course be taking your words into consideration in the meantime. For now, I’ll bid you farewell.”

Ferdinand was still stuck on the compliment, “Oh, I’m sorry Linhardt, I didn’t quite hear you, what was--” Without even waiting, Linhardt took off back to his dorm room, leaving the noble up hung and dry once again.

“Ah… I see how it is,” Ferdinand spoke out loud to himself, “... well then, Linhardt. I did try it in the most courteous of ways, but now I fear you’ve forced my hand.” His eyes darkened a bit at the prospect, a wide smile appearing on his face. “Don’t worry, my friend. We’ll get your training done just yet.”

\--------------------

Linhardt closed the door to his dorm room and latched it shut as best he could, more than relieved that he had managed to get away from Ferdinand for the time being. The key phrase of course being  _ for the time being _ . The man was always too persistent for his own good. Not even Caspar of all people was this insistent on Linhardt training and that was something he was all too passionate about as well.

He looked out the window, seeing the sun quickly setting. It was far too late for training anyway. Who the hell but Ferdinand would be willing to train in the dark so late into the night? Linhardt certainly wasn’t in the mood. Even if he hadn’t just fallen asleep outside earlier, there was no way that he would have agreed to train at this point in time with Ferdinand. Linhardt himself had his share of being a night owl and refusing to fall asleep for days on end due to something that interested him in such a strong way, but training was reserved for when the day was out at the very least. Well, that’s only if he was willing to train.

Forget it, no point in dwelling on it for now. Linhardt had crest research he needed to dive into now that he was fully awake.

He removed his tailcoat, outer belt, and stole, placing them on the coat rack near his door. He also took off his boots, neatly placing them in their place by the door. Linhardt might as well get comfortable in his own room after all. Linhardt then moved over to his desk, pulled out the chair, and sat down to the piles of papers and various books scattered all over it, truly making their home there.

Before he could begin to start reading or writing down his thoughts, there was a peck at the window from his messenger owl, Archimedes. Linhardt sighed, going over to open up the window, and give his owl a scritch on the head before taking the message.

_ Hey Linhardt! Where are you right now? -Caspar _

He raised an eyebrow and wrote back to his friend, attaching the letter to Archimedes to take to him on the next floor up.

_ Hey Caspar. I’m in my room. Why? -Linhardt _

Linhardt didn’t bother to close the window, knowing that he’d just be receiving another letter soon enough anyway. And sure enough, with little room to breathe, Archimedes was back with another letter.

_ Oh, well. Ferdinand came up to my room and he said he was looking for you! He said something about training! Are you two doing some secret special training? That’s not fair! You should have told me! I totally would join you and wipe the floor with you both haha! -Caspar _

That explained the odd question. Ferdinand was still looking for him and went to Caspar first because the two were neighbors… Not to mention it was probably also due to the fact Linhardt could sometimes be found sleeping on Caspar’s bed the majority of the time. Being childhood best friends had its perks and that included being able to enter Caspar’s room to sleep on his bed any time Linhardt so desired.

_ Ah. No, Caspar. He was trying to get me to train with him a bit ago, but I declined. I don’t know why he would be looking for me when I made my intentions clear. -Linhardt _

_ Huh. That’s weird. He seemed to really think you and him were going to be training or something. -Caspar _

Not long after receiving the message from Caspar, before Linhardt could send a reply, another bird entered into his room and placed a letter in front of him.

**_Do not try to run from your training. I will find you. I will get you. You will train._ **

Linhardt gripped onto the letter he was about to write to Caspar. He had an ominous feeling sweep over him as he knew who this letter came from even without the signing off on it. He felt it would be best to not reply to the bird, sending it off as he wrote back to Caspar and attached it to Archimedes.

_ Caspar. If I die tonight, can you bury me with my favorite pillow? -Linhardt _

Before Archimedes came back, the bird from before returned to Linhardt with another letter.

**_I am coming for you. PREPARE YOURSELF._ **

Linhardt immediately sent the bird back out without replying, hoping that if he didn’t reply back, Ferdinand would just assume that he never got the message. Not long after, Archimedes returned with a letter from Caspar.

_ WHAT?! WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT LINHARDT? WHAT’S GOING ON?! -Caspar _

Ferdinand’s bird returned with a vengeance. At this point, Linhardt didn’t want to read any more letters from him.

**_I know I am close. I have checked high and low for you._ **

Linhardt attached his letter to Archimedes and sent both birds off again.

_ I think Ferdinand is going to come get me. Help. -Linhardt _

His heart was beating faster at this point purely due to the adrenaline rising deep inside him. Unable to settle in his chair anymore, Linhardt got back up and put back on his boots from in front of the door. His eyes couldn’t help flickering between the door and the window of his first-floor room. Ferdinand’s bird came back before Archimedes.

**_You will be gotten._ **

As badly as Linhardt wanted to write back to Ferdinand to stop with the creepy messages, that would just provoke him more. Let the noble know that Linhardt had, in fact, been reading the messages that he was sending. Thankfully, Archimedes came back just as soon as he sent Ferdinand’s bird back out.

_ What? Get you? I don’t exactly know what’s going on, but... Come meet me in my room! Count on me to keep you safe! -Caspar _

Linhardt sighed with a form of relief. He hurriedly closed his window to prevent any more messages and rushed to his door. The healer didn’t bother to get his tailcoat, belt, or stole. He had no use for those for the time being. This was an emergency and he didn’t have time to be wasting. He unlatched the door and hurried outside.

Upon taking out his key and locking the door, Linhardt couldn’t help but catch a heavy breathing coming from behind him. He froze.

“ **Linhardt** ,” a rough manic-sounding voice called out to him.

He refused to turn around and acknowledge the person right behind him. The healer was more awake than ever as the only things he could hear were the sound of crickets chirping… and the sound of approaching boots on wood. Linhardt’s heart was about to explode in the worst way possible.

“ **I can see you** ,” the voice declared, laughing in a wildly deranged way.

“ **_YOU CAN’T SEE SHIT_ ** ,” Linhardt screamed out.

The footsteps started gaining speed, the voice growling at him, “ **_GET OVER HERE._ ** ”

His fight or flight kicking into high gear to the point he was sprinting away from his dorm room at a speed comparable to that of a horse on a good day. Unfortunately for Linhardt, he didn’t have the luxury to slow down or even look back to know that Ferdinand was gaining ground on him at a fast speed despite still being feet behind him.

Linhardt’s scream from earlier held enough power to wake up those in his dorm area, namely some of the other Black Eagles of course. Hubert and Edelgard came out of their rooms, looking as though they were about to get into bed, searched for signs of who could have screamed so loudly. Petra opened the door momentarily in confusion, looking around, but shrugging and ultimately closing the door to go back to her nightly routine.

Caspar however immediately rushed from his room down to the location of the scream, more than ready to beat up whoever it was that was making someone scream their heart out. Evildoers beware, Caspar is here. Once he hurried to the first level, he soon realized the reason the scream rang out, quickly spotting Linhardt sprinting for his life with Ferdinand on his heels. To Caspar, he almost mistook Ferdinand for a crest beast with the way that he was nearly running on fours just to chase his best friend.

The fear in his heart seemed to dissipate, leaving Caspar to just laugh and go running into the fray. Seeing all of this just left Caspar thinking it really was just some part of secret training Linhardt didn’t want to tell Caspar about. He just wanted it to be a huge surprise for him! Linhardt! You really shouldn’t have!

“HEY! LINHARDT, FERDINAND! WAIT UP FOR ME!” Caspar yelled after them boisterously.

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies to people that may have watched me for a long time and were looking forward to me updating my other fic. I got extremely busy with college and eventually just got so burnt out that I never continued-- really it was also because I didn't believe anyone else would be interested in reading it anymore. I can't guarantee that I will finish my other fic, but I'll try and provide more posts when I can.
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


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